SG Americas Securities LLC Trims Holdings in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) by 26.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,022 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 11,072 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Wendy’s were worth $526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Wendy’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Wendy’s by 15.6% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,993 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 1,621 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Wendy’s during the first quarter worth about $44,000. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Wendy’s by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 199,981 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,768,000 after acquiring an additional 26,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Wendy’s by 44.5% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,108 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Wendy’s

In other Wendy’s news, Director Matthew H. Peltz sold 1,000,000 shares of Wendy’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.18, for a total transaction of $17,180,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,943,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,728,745.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 17.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Wendy’s from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Wendy’s in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Barclays lowered their price target on Wendy’s from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.12.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WEN opened at $19.52 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $17.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.61. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.80. The Wendy’s Company has a 12 month low of $15.61 and a 12 month high of $20.65.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $570.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.15 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 67.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.12%. Wendy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.01%.

About Wendy’s

The Wendy's Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick-service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International, and Global Real Estate & Development segments. The company is involved in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants specializing in hamburger sandwiches.